BGE Launches First Energy Savings Day Of Summer

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — BGE is hoping to save their customers some money and reduce energy usage.

Tracey Leong has more on how.

This is a voluntary program to help customers get some money back in their pockets by cutting down their gas and electric usage during peak hours of the day.

For BGE customers with smart meters, it’s lights out between the hours of 1 and 7 p.m.

“It’s great that they have a program that we get a little back for just helping out the environment,” said Daniel Nemeth, a BGE customer.

Nemeth does everything he can to conserve.

“Do laundry either in the morning or late at night, try to keep the AC and central air down, but being that we have a dog, it gets difficult to do that. Got to keep him cool throughout the day and using fans and opening windows when we can,” Nemeth said.

BGE customers can earn a credit of $1.25 for every kilowatt hour saved on these designated days.

BGE has more than 800,000 customers that use smart meters and last year, those who participated saw a huge savings on their bill.

“It’s a positive impact on their bill. The more customers are able to conserve energy, the more positives you’ll see on your bill,” said BGE Spokesperson Rachael Lighty.

And it’s not just your pocketbook that’s benefiting.

“It’s putting less of a strain on that electric distribution system and so that helps to control crisis and helps control the reliability,” Lighty said.

On average, customers save around $6 per Energy Savings Day. This summer, BGE plans to have between five and 10 of them.

BGE notifies their customers the evening before with an automated call so people can plan ahead.